I had read Oedipus Rex by Sophocles in 11th grade, so I already knew what to expect, but this was a good refresher of the terrible tragedy that it is. Even though he might have a bit of a temper, Oedipus was undeservedly doomed from the very beginning. The chances that he would have ended up murdering his father and sharing a bed with his mother, even after being removed far away from his home were incredibly low. But, it was in fact fate that it ended up occurring, so the only way that Laius and Jocasta could’ve prevented it would have been to ensure that baby Oedipus was actually killed. The idea of a terrible fate or a prophecy is frustrating in terms of a story such as this because you know that no matter what, the prophecy will be fulfilled in the end.

An interesting irony in the story was the fact that Teiresias, the blind oracle, was able to see more clearly than Oedipus was able to. Oedipus was blind to the fact that he did in fact kill his father, and refused to listen to the oracle because of how silly it all seemed to him. At the same time, Oedipus likely had an idea in the back of his head that what Teiresias was saying was in fact true, which is why it angered him so much.

These Greek tragedies are outlandish and unfortunate in every way. They are definitely interesting reads, but they don’t seem to have any sort of resolution at the end or include any moral teachings. It seems more like that messed up things occur, and everyone (or almost everyone) is either dead or emotionally distraught by the end of the stories. I look forward to hearing everyone else’s thoughts on the story, and I am also very glad that we are moving on from the Greek tragedy in the upcoming weeks.